Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Call for term limits won't go away at City Hall

Like some city councillors, the debate over term limits at City Hall won’t be going away anytime soon.

Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong succeeded in getting Mayor Rob Ford’s executive committee to shelve any debate on the issue for at least a year.

But shortly after the vote, term limit proponents reminded some councillors on the committee they had promised to put off dealing with the issue until next month and vowed to push ahead to deal with it then.

“We shot it into outer space,” Minnan-Wong insisted after the vote.

The cheat sheet handed out by the mayor’s office before the meeting instructed councillors to defer the issue indefinitely.

“Members of council are accountable to residents that elected them,” the note stated. “Should they lose the confidence of their constituents it is up to the will of the people through an appropriate election.”

Councillors Mary-Margaret McMahon and Jaye Robinson had been fighting for a staff study on term limits. They’d like to see a three-term limit for councillors and the mayor.

Despite Minnan-Wong’s boast, McMahon warned the issue will be returning one way or another.

“It’s not dead. We’ll be bringing it back,” McMahon said.

After the meeting, Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said he was reminded he had promised a month ago to defer the issue to April when Robinson would be at the meeting.

“Fairness will have to prevail,” Holyday said. “I support the matter coming back to the next executive committee meeting and being reopened.”Please share this